The latest Pokémon pop-up shop is at the Natural History Museum in London, of all places, complete with some unique, and very classy, new merchandise.
It’s the 30th anniversary of Pokémon in February and what better way to start the celebrations than… a trip to the Natural History Museum? Pokémon fans already make sure the pocket monsters are carefully catalogued, their habitats mapped, and evolutions logged with near-scientific devotion, so this collaboration with the iconic London museum doesn’t feel like a novelty crossover, but rather a long overdue alignment.
The Natural History Museum’s Pokémon pop-up shop runs from January 26 to April 19 and is framed around the idea of ‘Pokécology’, a theme that treats Pokémon less as mascots and more as speculative wildlife. It’s a subtle repositioning that elevates the franchise, shifting it away from pure nostalgia and towards something closer to reality. Pokémon, after all, has always been about systems: environments, evolution, and survival (yes and battles!).
Housed within the museum’s Cranbourne Boutique, the pop-up tries to resist the usual chaos associated with high-demand Pokémon retail. Entry is ticketed, time-slotted, and fully booked, with strict purchase limits in place. The hope is that this will lead to a calm, controlled, and reflective shopping environment, rather than a hype-driven merch drop.
The idea behind the pop-up draws directly from Pokécology: An Illustrated Guide to Pokémon Ecology, written by Yoshinari Yonehara and illustrated by Chihiro Kinoshita, a book (only available in Japan so far) that treats pokémon more like species you might catalogue in a field notebook.
Rather than generic franchise visuals, the merch takes cues from the museum itself: Hintze Hall, botanical ceiling panels, and archival illustration styles reworked with grass type pokémon and specimen label aesthetics. It’s subtle enough to feel clever, but obvious enough that it still appeals to casual fans.
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The centrepiece of the pop-up is the oversized Pokémon Trading Card Game promo card Pikachu at the Museum. It’s included as a gift with purchase, limited to one per customer, and already has the aura of something that will be whispered about in awe in fan circles, and sold for a fortune by scalpers on eBay.
Then there’s the plush, I love a Pokémon plush. The museum exclusive Pikachu plush, posed like it’s settling in for a quiet afternoon among the exhibits, is suitably scholarly and is also certain to go for a pretty penny as soon as the pop-up is no more.
After the plush, the most sought after items on my shopping list were the pin badges. The Eevee Evolution enamel pin set, including a full eight badges, are clean, collectible, and very much not for kids. Alongside them sits the Gilded Tiles pin set, which leans harder into architecture and patterns than characters, with a clear statement that, ‘I’m an adult and I like Pokemon, but I am also very sensible’.
Stationery fans are also quietly spoiled by the shop. The Ancient Species notebook channels museum diagrams and natural history charts, while an Eevee notebook is one of the cheaper offerings. Nevertheless, add a Pikachu tote bag and suddenly you’re dressed like someone who ‘just popped in’ and accidentally bought half the shop.
This crossover pop-up flatters both sides of the collaboration: Pokémon looks smarter and the museum looks cooler. There’s also a moral cushion for your wallet. Purchases support the museum’s charitable work and scientific research, which makes impulse purchases feel slightly more defensible.
The catch, inevitably, is scarcity. Ticketing, strict purchase limits of five items and one of each item per customer, turns the whole experience into a carefully managed frenzy. It’s fair, but it also reinforces the sense that the real boss battle is at the till. Pokémon, after all, has always understood the power of rarity and that drives collectors mad with both joy and horror at every release.
Strip away the hype, though, and this is a collaboration that genuinely works. The Natural History Museum isn’t pretending Pokémon is real science and Pokémon isn’t pretending it’s not here to sell you things. Instead, it leans into what both do best: curiosity, classification, and the joy of discovering strange creatures, real or fictional.
How to get tickets for the Pokémon x Natural History Museum pop-up shop
The short answer to this is that you can’t, as the tickets necessary to get in have long ago sold out. However, the official website does offer the chance to check for any relisted tickets (of people that can no longer make it) so you could try your luck here.
The only other option, to get the exclusive merchandise, is the online store but that’s barely any easier to access. The link is here but when we just checked we ended up as 116,136th in the queue…
The design of the merch clearly pulls from the location itself, so that everything feels like it belongs in South Kensington. But is it worth the effort of a trek to London? Well, if you thought you could get away with ordering online you might be out of luck as the online queue is just as long.
If you want a calm cultural moment, try the science museum next door. But if you want a pop-up that understands Pokémon fans perfectly, and dresses that understanding up in museum grade aesthetics, this is definitely worth a visit.
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